2010: Year in Review, Part 1 - Work and Wealth

Overall, I'd declare this year Good overall, but most notably a year of Improvement and Progress.  :-)  For once, "most improved"doesn't feel like a consolation prize, but a hard-won, much-cherished feat.  The series of tragedies and bad news of years past have ebbed.  It was a welcome reprieve, and interestingly I noticed and appreciated the absence of constant losses and unheavals.  How often do we notice and appreciate that "nothing bad is happening" and therefore I am grateful?  Of course, I am grateful for the many good fortunes in my life this past year, and humbled by the setbacks.  Rather than a chronological review, this year I will examine Life's Big Buckets, and how each one fared.  This is a blog post in three parts (and some parts are a work in progress, as I continue to edit bit by bit).

Work - My job is demanding and stressful. At times, it can totally suck the life out of me.  For the better part of this year however, it sustained me and fulfilled me.  My boss, our CEO, announced her planned departure for early 2011, and this had some wonderful outcomes.  It was a great relief to know that a huge stressing, anxiety-producer will be releasing its grip.  Also, perhaps her own knowledge of her transition took some burden off her as well, because our relationship eased and became more trusting and respectful (for the most part).  Also, my ego was boosted, as both several members of our board and our funders saw me as a viable candidate to take on her role....but I am both smart and sane, and announced I would not be applying.  It was terrific to have the best of all worlds - good enough to do it, smart enough not to!


The work travel this year was amazing - Beirut, London (3x), and Vienna.  I'm SO over the long-haul grueling trips to the ends of the earth.  And as for the substantive part, for over six months I was completely jazzed every day to work on a merger deal of our organization with another non-profit.  I gave my blood, sweat, tears, and passion to that deal.  I learned so much (that's not a throwaway sentence, I LEARNED so much).  And at the end, when it didn't work out, I still learned so much.  This time less about organizational development and non-profit effectiveness, and more about human nature - the harsher, dog-eat-dog side of human nature and putting self-interest before the greater good.  And lessons about how there are many truths and many valid "right answers."  And I suppose, these lessons are both hard to swallow, but critically important to remember, however much I resist.  Finally, while the dynamics with my boss have eased, the challenges of managing a team continue to dog me.  Damn, those crazies Millenials keep me on my toes.  Towards the end of the year, here and in other aspects of my life, I began to second-guess myself; my confidence and my voice have been on shaky ground.

Wealth - Perhaps I will get to blog a Year-End Audit of my finances, which I always find fascinating, but even if not, the takeaway is that I was consistently on solid, steady ground.  Four full years after separation/divorce, my financial affairs are completely separated from Dear ex-Husband. The last steps of this were getting the house title and the mortgage in my name alone. All that I have - in paucity and in abundance - is mine, rightfully mine.  Hard-earned, hard-won, and deserved.  Financial independence is sweet!  And not only am I financially emancipated of him, I have dug myself out of all financial-related holes that came with the expenses of divorce, and other temporary life setbacks.  Attorney fees are paid, and credit cards are paid-off in full monthly for the last year.  I even managed to get in some overdue home repair and improvement.

And now that I'm on steady ground (maybe not solid, it still feels like it could be precarious with the wrong strong winds), I've begun to build the foundation of financial stability by getting my legal and financial affairs together for Dear Daughter.  You know what I mean, the kinds of things one talks to lawyers and planners about if one is divorced and has a kid and a house.   It will be interesting to see if this is a sustainable and set financial path in 2011.  I have goals here, but there is little room for error or faulty assumptions.